Israel to Establish Central Authority on Transactions with Germany

July 8, 1952

THE HAGUE (Jul. 7)

A central government authority will be set up by Israel and entrusted with the task of practical implementation of the agreements reached in the reparations discussions now being held here, the German delegation to the talks was informed today by the Israel delegation.

It was pointed out that this set-up will eliminate all private and individual transactions in connection with the goods to be provided by Germany. The central authority will, no doubt, set up a purchasing commission in Germany which will consist of experts in various fields. These experts will make the actual selections of goods and the talks here can only decide the category of goods which will be provided in payment of the reparations claims and set relative values.

It was reported today that definite strides had been made by the sub-committee on goods and that substantial sections of that unit’s work had been completed. There is a tentative agreement on categories and quantities of goods, and the sub-committee is ready to go into the question of a delivery schedule.

There are two basic categories of goods which have been drawn up: the first consists of goods needed for the development of industry and agriculture, such as machinery, etc.; the second consists of durable consumer goods, such as prefabricated houses, chemicals and pharmaceuticals which can go to Israel in place of current imports and thus save Israel’s supply of foreign currency. As drawn up now, the list of development goods is much larger than the list of consumer goods.

GERMANS MEET WITH CONFERENCE GROUP ON GLOBAL JEWISH CLAIMS

After an informal meeting this morning between the heads of the delegations of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims and West Germany, Moses A. Leavitt and Prof. Franz Boehm, it was announced that a plenary session of the two groups will be held Wednesday. It is expected that the Germans will give their answer to the Conference’s global claims of $500,000,000 at this session. At any rate, Dr. Boehm has stated that the German offer would be made this week.

Dr. Heinz Von Treutschler, against whom charges of Nazi Party membership have been levelled by the Frankfurter Rundschau, will continue as a member of the German delegation, Dr. Boehm reported. Dr. Von Treutschler’s position was strengthened by a statement by the German Social Democratic Party denying that Dr. Von Treutschler had been an important Nazi and stating that the opposition party could see no reason for barring him from the reparations negotiations.